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Moscow Churches: Noticing the Past

I‘m not sure if we, as Muscovites, actually realise how many churches there are in our city centre. Fair enough, there were even more, and we’ve long heard complaints that many of them had been destroyed in the Soviet era. Having lived and travelled around Britain for 7 years, I now cannot help wondering if those churches that were destroyed had decayed to the extent that it was cheaper to destroy them than to repair? On the other hand, for all the beauty of Russian churches, not all of them boast a “civic-friendly” design that would easily allow to convert them into living or business spaces, like they do in the UK. I know that in the eyes of the pious, wherever they live, it is an act of blasphemy to make use of the house of God for any purpose, other than worship. But as the population grows, the question of accommodation rises sharply. “Accommodation” shouldn’t be understood merely as a place to live, but also figuratively, as provision the opportunities for work and leisure. Perhaps in the not so distant future we will have to rethink our attitude to a religious space, and maybe by such means we will also be able to acknowledge the omnipresence of one God across many religious practices.

For now, though, we are left with a number of beautiful ancient churches, cathedrals, and monasteries within the city of Moscow. The church on the photo above is a 17th c. church of St Vladimir at the Old Gardens in Starosadsky Pereulok (Lane) that is separated from the Lutheran church of St Peter and Paul by the State Historical Library in the same street. On the left is the Church of Holy Trinity in Khokhlovsky Pereulok (Lane); and Vysokopetrovsky Monastery in Petrovka St. is on the right.

Moscow: Phantom Buildings

I‘m thinking that it is now, after many years in another country that couldn’t be any further from Russia in very many ways, – it is now that I’m beginning to really discover my hometown, noticing where it is like many others I’ve seen and where it is genuinely different. The city centre fascinates me: Moscow, as you know, stands on seven hills (like Rome), and as you walk, different buildings appear from out of the blue and vanish in the haze, like one of these Stalin-era imposing buildings in Kotelnicheskaya Embankment, seen from Maroseika St.

Quote: Henri Cartier-Bresson on Photography and Drawing

Photography and drawing – juxtaposition.

For me, photography is a spontaneous impulse towards a constant visual attention that captures both the moment and eternity within it. 

A drawing, by its graphic nature, explores what out consciousness has seized in that very moment. 

Photography is an immediate action, drawing is a meditation. 

Henri Cartier-Bresson, a French photographer.

Image is courtesy of Nowhere – Now here blog.

Moscow: Looking Upwards

Many years ago (before I went to Britain) I haven’t had such passion for photography, as I do now. I guess that in a way this had to do with the fact that digital photocameras have only just been making their way into Russia, and most of my friends were using film to take pictures. It felt daunting to need to process the film before seeing the results…

These days it is much simpler, plus I came to recognise the historic value of photographs in my own life. I don’t feel dependent on the camera, and sometimes I go out without it, safe in knowledge that, should I need it, I always have my mobile phone.

The photo in the post was taken in Maroseika Street in Moscow city centre. I’ve long loved the street; I used to stroll up and down it on my way to the State Historic Library. One of these houses is of sad fame: all those who lived there between 1937 and 1952 had gone and not come back, either during the repressions or during the Great Patriotic War.

Winter!.. The Countryman, Enchanted…

Those who follow my Flickr have already learnt that I fulfilled my long-term dream of going out to ski. Frankly, I don’t think I’d get as much pleasure from skiing indoors at the Trafford Centre, so I’m glad I waited for so long. While skiing, I noted two things. First, I haven’t lost the skill; better yet I never fell! Second, as Paul McKenna teaches (and one would have to fight hard to disagree), we are already richer than we think we are. It seriously doesn’t matter that I fulfilled my dream in my native town and not somewhere in the Alps. The ability to savour the experience has nothing to do with the price of the experience.

http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649

Quotes: Francois Boucher on Woman’s Body

We must not think of a woman’s body as a covering for bones; it should not be fat though it should certainly be rounded; it should be firm and slender without thereby appearing to be thin. 

F. Boucher, a French painter

Want to know more about F. Boucher’s paintings? Check out Religious Paintings by François Boucher.

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